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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-13T21:55:58+00:00

I’m trying to bulk insert data to SQL server express database. When doing bcp

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I’m trying to bulk insert data to SQL server express database. When doing bcp from Windows XP command prompt, I get the following error:

C:\temp>bcp  in  -T -f  -S 

Starting copy...
SQLState = S1000, NativeError = 0
Error = [Microsoft][SQL Native Client]Unexpected EOF encountered in BCP data-file

0 rows copied.
Network packet size (bytes): 4096
Clock Time (ms.) Total     : 4391

So, there is a problem with EOF. How to append a correct EOF character to this file using Perl or Python?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    EOF is End Of File. What probably occurred is that the file is not complete; the software expects data, but there is none to be had anymore.

    These kinds of things happen when:

    • the export is interrupted (quit dump software while dumping)
    • while copying the dumpfile aborting the copy
    • disk full during dump

    these kinds of things.

    By the way, though EOF is usually just an end of file, there does exist an EOF character. This is used because terminal (command line) input doesn’t really end like a file does, but it sometimes is necessary to pass an EOF to such a utility. I don’t think it’s used in real files, at least not to indicate an end of file. The file system knows perfectly well when the file has ended, it doesn’t need an indicator to find that out.

    EDIT shamelessly copied from a comment provided by John Machin

    It can happen (uninentionally) in real files. All it needs is (1) a data-entry user to type Ctrl-Z by mistake, see nothing on the screen, type the intended Shift-Z, and keep going and (2) validation software (written by e.g. the company president’s nephew) which happily accepts Ctrl-anykey in text fields and your database has a little bomb in it, just waiting for someone to produce a query to a flat file.

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